This man may have been responsible for great games in the past, but given what BioWare has become over the past three years or so, I can't say my level of give-a-fark is very high. But, whatever. I wish him the best of luck in his future career choice.

The EA cannibalization process must've been pretty rough this time around for them to quit the industry altogether. Maybe EA's lawyers inserted a non-compete clause, knowing full well the results of their practices. Those guys were responsible for some of my favorite games of all time, right up until they started selling bits of their soul for MS Points.

I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices cried out from their parents' basements. I fear something terrible has happened

And much like the Star Wars reference in the headline, BioWare represented a young Anakin. He was ambitious, wanting to change the world for the good. Until he met Emperor Arts who, through subtle manipulation, twisted and warped Anakin into a shell of his former self. It was only after the full acquisition did Anakin cease to exist and Darth Vader took his place.

I wouldn't be so quick to judge. "Stakeholder" is different from "shareholder," in that it recognizes that everyone, from the customers who buy the products, to the people who create the products, to the people who finance the products, have a stake in the outcome. He was taking a subtle swipe at how EA focuses too much on the financial side, overriding the production side, and disrespecting the consumption side. Had there been more concern for the stakeholders instead of the shareholders over the past few years, Bioware would still be producing classic, unforgettable games, instead of focus-tested, monetized garbage.

Well I'm sad to hear this, though happy for the docs. Bio may have mistepped of late, but they have still given me some of my favorite games ever. From Baldur's Gate & Kotor to ME & DA ... I've been pretty happy with all of it.

hamdingers:Well I'm sad to hear this, though happy for the docs. Bio may have mistepped of late, but they have still given me some of my favorite games ever. From Baldur's Gate & Kotor to ME & DA ... I've been pretty happy with all of it.

Eh, I like to attribute Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 more to the work of Black Isle, probably because I'm bitter at the direction that Bioware has taken.

/Even though it was delayed until Nov. 30, I'm still excited for Baldur's Gate:Enhanced Edition!

I wouldn't be so quick to judge. "Stakeholder" is different from "shareholder," in that it recognizes that everyone, from the customers who buy the products, to the people who create the products, to the people who finance the products, have a stake in the outcome. He was taking a subtle swipe at how EA focuses too much on the financial side, overriding the production side, and disrespecting the consumption side. Had there been more concern for the stakeholders instead of the shareholders over the past few years, Bioware would still be producing classic, unforgettable games, instead of focus-tested, monetized garbage.

jagarr:Electronic Arts somehow managed to kill the best multiplayer game ever made (Ultima Online), so I've been fairly 'meh' about the game destroying mission they've been on since they merc'd Mythic.

Still sucks for Bioware though. Writing was on the wall after TOR Dragon Age II last year.

mokinokaro:Everybody's so quick to blame EA for them quitting but they fail to realise that these two were always the managers and had very little to do with the content Bioware put out.

They were the guys that made sure the budget balanced and that projects stuck to a shedule, that's all.

In fact, it was their decision to sell to EA in the first place.

Maybe (although I thought they DID have a hand in the game design early on) - but they did create the company, and the vision, that made some of the truly best games ever produced. With them gone, there is nothing to stop EA from turning Bioware into just another shiatty EA subsidiary.

So long Bioware, you were the best, you'll be missed.

BTW:: The Bioware forums are alight with a ton of "well, that's the end of the company" posts - the Bioware employees who frequent the forums are getting pissed.

obvious troll is obvious. right now obsidian is the only game company consistently putting out worse shiat than bioware

/borderlands 2 IS awesome!!!//gearbox is my new lord and master

Don't know what you're talking about, Fallout New Vegas was an awesome game, and Neverwinter Nights 2 was pretty decent as well. I distinctly remember enjoying KOTOR 2, so I can't hate them for that, and they are involved in the upcoming South Park RPG. You're entitled to your opinion man, but I think you're the one that's trolling.

EA sucks, you can't have much creative vision when EA is extremely proud they only greenlight games with an "online required component and DLC" and other "services" they can strip from the game and offer for more money. As a developer I would find those kind of conditions and strings intolerable too because you know whatever cool idea you have it has to be able to serve EA's Origin requirement of not releasing a fully finished game, there has to be dlc and there has to be other ways to micro transaction the game.

obvious troll is obvious. right now obsidian is the only game company consistently putting out worse shiat than bioware

/borderlands 2 IS awesome!!!//gearbox is my new lord and master

Don't know what you're talking about, Fallout New Vegas was an awesome game, and Neverwinter Nights 2 was pretty decent as well. I distinctly remember enjoying KOTOR 2, so I can't hate them for that, and they are involved in the upcoming South Park RPG. You're entitled to your opinion man, but I think you're the one that's trolling.

New Vegas could've used a few more months of testing and debugging before release. Don't get me wrong, F:NV is one of my favorite games (and also has one of my favorite DLCs ever "Old World Blues") but holy shiat was it buggy! I remember I couldn't play for a couple days because every time I tried to enter the strip, the game would freeze and crash. It was only after scouring the forums did I find out I could put on a beret and enter the strip without it freezing. Then I was too scared to take off the beret because the game might crash again.

And it's hard for me to fault open world games because there's a damn near infinite number of ways to play the game, so knocking out all bugs would be impossible. BUT when I just start the game and Doc Mitchell's head is doing a 360? That' buggy.

obvious troll is obvious. right now obsidian is the only game company consistently putting out worse shiat than bioware

/borderlands 2 IS awesome!!!//gearbox is my new lord and master

Don't know what you're talking about, Fallout New Vegas was an awesome game, and Neverwinter Nights 2 was pretty decent as well. I distinctly remember enjoying KOTOR 2, so I can't hate them for that, and they are involved in the upcoming South Park RPG. You're entitled to your opinion man, but I think you're the one that's trolling.

New Vegas could've used a few more months of testing and debugging before release. Don't get me wrong, F:NV is one of my favorite games (and also has one of my favorite DLCs ever "Old World Blues") but holy shiat was it buggy! I remember I couldn't play for a couple days because every time I tried to enter the strip, the game would freeze and crash. It was only after scouring the forums did I find out I could put on a beret and enter the strip without it freezing. Then I was too scared to take off the beret because the game might crash again.

And it's hard for me to fault open world games because there's a damn near infinite number of ways to play the game, so knocking out all bugs would be impossible. BUT when I just start the game and Doc Mitchell's head is doing a 360? That' buggy.

What version did you have, PS3? I had the PC version, and aside from a few save issues the first time I played it, and the occasional graphical bug or cazador clipping into the ground/wall, I didn't really have any serious issues with it. I think it crashed only 2 or 3 three times that I can remember.

DontMakeMeComeBackThere:mokinokaro: Everybody's so quick to blame EA for them quitting but they fail to realise that these two were always the managers and had very little to do with the content Bioware put out.

They were the guys that made sure the budget balanced and that projects stuck to a shedule, that's all.

In fact, it was their decision to sell to EA in the first place.

Maybe (although I thought they DID have a hand in the game design early on) - but they did create the company, and the vision, that made some of the truly best games ever produced. With them gone, there is nothing to stop EA from turning Bioware into just another shiatty EA subsidiary.

So long Bioware, you were the best, you'll be missed.

BTW:: The Bioware forums are alight with a ton of "well, that's the end of the company" posts - the Bioware employees who frequent the forums are getting pissed.

I'll bet! I would be too.

/just glad they made it through the primary ME trilogy//wondering what's next for the company AND the Doctors

Spanky_McFarksalot:I care only if he was the one responsible for the abortion that was the ME3 ending.

That was Casey Hudson's fault, who has been in Bioware for many years. From what I heard, Drew Karpyshyn helped write the first two games then got nudged to Old Republic and then Hudson brought that ending disaster to us.

Not EA's fault for the endings, but EA can still choke on a bowl of dicks.

Empty Matchbook:/just glad they made it through the primary ME trilogy//wondering what's next for the company AND the Doctors

Sequels. SEQUELS. SEQUELS!

Casey Hudson already promised another entry into Mass Effect, plus they announced Dragon Age 3: Inquisition.

I really have no desire to play DA3. The second one just plain sucked and was a pure money grab. Of course they're saying they are listening to fans and addressing complaints, but I don't trust EA to actually listen.

scottydoesntknow:Empty Matchbook: /just glad they made it through the primary ME trilogy//wondering what's next for the company AND the Doctors

Sequels. SEQUELS. SEQUELS!

Casey Hudson already promised another entry into Mass Effect, plus they announced Dragon Age 3: Inquisition.

I really have no desire to play DA3. The second one just plain sucked and was a pure money grab. Of course they're saying they are listening to fans and addressing complaints, but I don't trust EA to actually listen.

Given how the fan response to ME3 turned the endings from 'garbage' to 'good enough' (at least to me), I think they will listen to the criticism of DA2 and see how to make DA3 better. Now that's now saying DA3 is going to kick ass. They can still blow it.

scottydoesntknow:Empty Matchbook: /just glad they made it through the primary ME trilogy//wondering what's next for the company AND the Doctors

Sequels. SEQUELS. SEQUELS!

Casey Hudson already promised another entry into Mass Effect, plus they announced Dragon Age 3: Inquisition.

I really have no desire to play DA3. The second one just plain sucked and was a pure money grab. Of course they're saying they are listening to fans and addressing complaints, but I don't trust EA to actually listen.

I will not buy DA3 unless every review (blogs, meta-critic, game news sites, the works) I read about the game is utterly glowing. Not after DA2. No thank you.

Cythraul:I will not buy DA3 unless every review (blogs, meta-critic, game news sites, the works) I read about the game is utterly glowing. Not after DA2. No thank you.

Was gonna say that too, but I don't trust a majority of the reviewers out there. Too many of them are in EA's pocket. I will trust the small ones that are honest about it (the same ones that actually reported how farked up the original ME3 ending was).

Kinda sad this will be the first BioWare game I don't pick up on release day. It'll be a couple weeks (wait for all reviews to roll in) before I even think about it.

AntonChigger:Don't know what you're talking about, Fallout New Vegas was an awesome game, and Neverwinter Nights 2 was pretty decent as well. I distinctly remember enjoying KOTOR 2, so I can't hate them for that, and they are involved in the upcoming South Park RPG. You're entitled to your opinion man, but I think you're the one that's trolling.

Haven't played F:NV because I avoid Obsidian products like the plague. Why? Because NWN2 and KOTOR2 were farking disasters. The former was totally unplayable at release (questionable even today), and the latter remains a half-finished, bug-ridden pile of dung despite the best efforts of the modding community. If you're not a troll, then you're just a glutton for punishment... NTTAWWT.

DA2 I was warned about. I bought it anyway and went 'surely not' about the 'recycled maps' and other complaints.

I had prepurchased ME3 and was loving it. I shrugged off the 'haters' griping about the ending.

SWTOR seemed fun. For 20 levels.

I have developed a syphilitic hatred for origin. It is the most ass backward client I've ever used, and couldn't find a successful well programmed menu with both hands and a wad of cash.

They took bf3 and made it a 'subscription' service for DLC they promised a month ago. (though honestly I'm more angry my cheap ass friends won't drop the cash on the DLC).

I'm done with EA unless there is a very compelling reason to get another game by them. Honestly can't explain quickly why I was so disappointed by ME3 and DA2. But thy were enough to make me say no more.

wmoonfox:AntonChigger: Don't know what you're talking about, Fallout New Vegas was an awesome game, and Neverwinter Nights 2 was pretty decent as well. I distinctly remember enjoying KOTOR 2, so I can't hate them for that, and they are involved in the upcoming South Park RPG. You're entitled to your opinion man, but I think you're the one that's trolling.

Haven't played F:NV because I avoid Obsidian products like the plague. Why? Because NWN2 and KOTOR2 were farking disasters. The former was totally unplayable at release (questionable even today), and the latter remains a half-finished, bug-ridden pile of dung despite the best efforts of the modding community. If you're not a troll, then you're just a glutton for punishment... NTTAWWT.

To clarify... In both instances, Obsidian was handed a solid-gold property, and they managed to utterly destroy both, then refused to take responsibility. They're the worst kind of developer.

WizardofToast:scottydoesntknow: Empty Matchbook: /just glad they made it through the primary ME trilogy//wondering what's next for the company AND the Doctors

Sequels. SEQUELS. SEQUELS!

Casey Hudson already promised another entry into Mass Effect, plus they announced Dragon Age 3: Inquisition.

I really have no desire to play DA3. The second one just plain sucked and was a pure money grab. Of course they're saying they are listening to fans and addressing complaints, but I don't trust EA to actually listen.

Given how the fan response to ME3 turned the endings from 'garbage' to 'good enough' (at least to me), I think they will listen to the criticism of DA2 and see how to make DA3 better. Now that's now saying DA3 is going to kick ass. They can still blow it.

They're also taking longer than 18 months, so I think there's plenty of hope for DA3.

And I'm fine with more Mass Effect. After all the universe-building they did via the codex through stuff we never even saw or fully experienced, it's not like they're short on material. I can't remember where I heard it (I think on Giant Bomb's podcast), but someone floated the idea of a hard-boiled detective story set entirely on The Citadel. I'd play the HELL out of that.

matthew_m_g:jagarr: Electronic Arts somehow managed to kill the best multiplayer game ever made (Ultima Online), so I've been fairly 'meh' about the game destroying mission they've been on since they merc'd Mythic.

Still sucks for Bioware though. Writing was on the wall after TOR Dragon Age II last year.

obvious troll is obvious. right now obsidian is the only game company consistently putting out worse shiat than bioware

/borderlands 2 IS awesome!!!//gearbox is my new lord and master

Don't know what you're talking about, Fallout New Vegas was an awesome game, and Neverwinter Nights 2 was pretty decent as well. I distinctly remember enjoying KOTOR 2, so I can't hate them for that, and they are involved in the upcoming South Park RPG. You're entitled to your opinion man, but I think you're the one that's trolling.

Fallout New Vegas was an okay game. It made me want to play through to the end, but not play it again, unlike Fallout 3. It's design was rather slovenly, and the DLC was hit and miss (Old World Blues and Lonesome Road were awesome, Dead Money was mediocre, and Honest Hearts was just awful,) though I do appreciate some of the fixes for Fallout 3's bugs.

Empty Matchbook:And I'm fine with more Mass Effect. After all the universe-building they did via the codex through stuff we never even saw or fully experienced, it's not like they're short on material. I can't remember where I heard it (I think on Giant Bomb's podcast), but someone floated the idea of a hard-boiled detective story set entirely on The Citadel. I'd play the HELL out of that.

Well, to be honest ME is the first time in a long time that an IP has birthed a universe that seems large, rich, and interesting enough to support a multitude of stories exploring previously obscured parts of the universe. If the IP holders were smart, they'd look into getting an expanded universe going (a la Star Wars). It deserves more attention.

Other story/game ideas:

a fleet combat-style rts/turn-based strategy

a patrol/combat vessel that gets caught up in political intrigue

an exploration of the [insert race]'s homeworld and culture that hasn't been explored in-depth yet